More bogus employees found in Andalusian retirement scheme

Government officials in Andalusia said Thursday that they have identified 33 additional people who never worked for companies that were allegedly subsidized by the government and then received benefits when the firms laid them off.

The Andalusian Employment Department has so far discovered 70 such cases and has filed complaints with the courts. More fraud cases could be uncovered as department officials continue to review the records of 6,096 public employees who receive benefits from the regional government. So far, only 1,569 files have been studied.

"We are going to investigate everything," said Manuel Recio, the regional government's employment commissioner.

Among those alleged to be fraudulently receiving unemployment benefits is a former city council member and two members of the ruling Socialist Party.

The scandal broke last month when police discovered the existence of a 647-million-euro slush fund to cover payments to public employees for bogus early retirement and to help companies in crisis over the past decade. The scam involved falsely enrolling people on the books of companies with financial problems, who would then be laid off or given early retirement as part of staff cutbacks.